1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to photographic apparatus having a counter which indicates the number of film containers or cassettes which have been inserted into or removed therefrom.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For years photographic apparatus, e.g. cameras or camera backs, have been provided with counters which provide an indication of the number of unexposed film units or frames which remain within a film cassette located within the camera. The counter may be of the type which is reset only when a new film pack or cassette is inserted into the camera, as decribed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,363,528, or the counter may be automatically reset when the film cassette is removed from the camera, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,858,752. Still other counters provide a signal in a view finder window after a predetermined number of film units have been exposed, e.g., see U.S. Pat. No. 3,136,291. Further, counters may be combined with other parts of a camera such as a film cassette ejector, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,282,044. Sometimes the film counter is indexed in response to the movement of a mirror between viewing and taking positions, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,313 or the counter's indexing member may be an integral part of a film advancing apparatus, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,249,811 and 3,965,480. However, as mentioned previously, the above-described counters merely indicate the number of film units or frames which have been exposed or remain unexposed. Further, this information is lost when the counter is reset. Thus, it can be seen that such information is available only for certain periods of time, and is of limited value.